Systematic revision of the arboreal snail Satsuma albida species complex (Mollusca: Camaenidae) with descriptions of 14 new species from Taiwan

The taxonomy of the endemic arboreal snail Satsuma albida species complex from Taiwan was unclear due to the animals' highly similar morphology, and their nocturnal and strict arboreal behaviour, leading to difficulties in collecting living specimens. This article is the first comprehensive comparative study on the systematics and taxonomy of this species complex using external morphology, anatomy of the reproductive system and molecular phylogeny. Consequently, two subspecies of S. albida are raised to species status, namely S. insignis and S. mollicula. Fourteen new species are also described. Fourteen of the 17 species showed polymorphism in banding pattern amongst populations and other species retained the whitish unity as seen in S. albida. Distributions of almost all taxa are geographically limited, with the exception of S. polymorpha sp. nov . The phylogeny of these species was reconstructed using 20 morphological characters and molecular data from the partial sequences of mtDNA CO1 and 16S rRNA genes, and the complete ITS2 sequence. The molecular phylogeny revealed three subclades (west, east and polymorpha clade) and revealed that these snails are monophyletic, originating from a ground‐dwelling ancestor. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 154 , 437–493.     

鳗鲡(Anguilla japonica Temminck Schlegel)繁殖生物学研究——Ⅰ.下海鳗鲡雌雄性状差异和鉴别

通过比较鳗鲡的眼径、眼间距、吻形等外部特征能比较可靠地鉴别雌雄两性。这些形态上的测量数据经“判别函数”的计算,确定了两性之间的差别。运用形态上的差异鉴别400—600毫米体长组的雌雄鳗,准确率可达到90%。座标图表明体长的分布自然地区分为雌雄鳗,体长在600毫米以上者全为雌鳗,体长400毫米以下者全为雄鳗。雌雄两性体长和体重关系为W=0.0000001285L3.015。体长400—600毫米的鳗鲡的体长和体重的直线回归系数(b)依性别而有所不同。雄鳗为0.887(W=0.887L-280.20);雌鳗为1.150(W=1.150L-376.73)。雄性肥满度为1.15±0.052,雌性为1.42±0.053,以上两对数值在两性间都存在显著差异。       

在我国发现的一些昆虫病毒

在害虫的综合防治中,利用病毒进行短期或长期防治是有效的途径之一,这个问题已日益引起重视。近年来,我国各地已相继开展了这方面的研究和应用。我们过去在昆虫病原调查中,曾先后采集和分离到20多种昆虫病毒,除已报道4种及黄地老虎(Euxoa segetum)质型多角体病毒和颗粒体病毒将另文发表外,尚有16种昆虫病毒,现初步整理报道于后。     

Altered actin polymerization of Plutella xylostella (L.) in response to ovarian calyx components of an endoparasitoid Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov)

Abstract Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a solitary braconid endoparasitoid wasp, parasitizes the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) by suppressing the host defense response, thereby resulting in successful parasitization. During parasitization, ovarian calyx fluid is also delivered into the haemocoel of the host along with the wasp egg. The effect of calyx fluid constituents on haemocyte‐spreading behaviour of P. xylostella is analysed by measuring F‐actin development in the haemocytes. For this purpose, the calyx fluid of C. plutellae is separated into ovarian protein and C. plutellae bracovirus (CpBV). The ovarian protein consists of a wide range of molecular weight proteins, which are apparently different from those of CpBV. When nonparasitized P. xylostella haemocytes are incubated with either ovarian protein or CpBV for 1 or 2 h, haemocytes lose their responsiveness to a cytokine, plasmatocyte‐spreading peptide, in a dose‐dependent manner for each calyx component and fail to exhibit haemocyte‐spreading behaviour. Some CpBV genes are expressed within 1 h of parasitization. The inhibition of haemocyte‐spreading could be explained by measuring F‐actin contents, in which parasitization by C. plutellae inhibits F‐actin development in the haemocytes of P. xylostella. Either ovarian protein or CpBV could inhibit F‐actin development in the nonparasitized haemocytes. In addition, co‐incubation of ovarian protein and CpBV results in significant additive inhibition of both haemocyte‐spreading and F‐actin development in the haemocytes in response to cytokine. These results suggest that both components of C. plutellae calyx fluid function in a synergistic manner, leading to immunosuppression during the early stage of parasitization.     

东亚飞蝗飞翔时的体温变化

在一般情况下,昆虫在静止时期的体温,大致接近于环境温度;在飞翔时,由于虫体新陈代谢速率增大(如 Krogh and Weis-Fogh测定沙漠蝗飞翔时的代谢速率约相当于静止时的15至50倍),体温与环境温度有明显的区别。一些昆虫学工作者如 Oosthuizen、Krogh＆ Zeuthen、Sotavalta、Weis-Fogh、Church等曾对天蚕蛾、熊蜂、蛱蝶、沙漠蝗飞翔时的体温进行过测定。     

昆明山梅花及其变种的指定模式标本

昆明山梅花Philadelphus kunmmingensis S.M.Hwang及其变种小叶山梅花var.parvifolius S.M.Hwang已发表于中国科学院华南植物研究所集刊75-7.1991.有拉丁文的描述及标本引证,但未指定模式标本,为使其名称符合植物命名法规,现补充指定模式标本.     

Expressed sequence tag analysis of the diapausing queen of the bumblebee Bombus ignitus

We constructed a full‐length cDNA library from diapausing queens of the bumblebee Bombus ignitus. A total of 480 randomly selected clones was sequenced by single‐run 5′‐end sequencing. Of these, there were 437 high quality clones, 23 poor quality clones and 20 read‐fail clones. Each high quality clone sequence was searched against a public protein database. The most frequently found matching genes were ribosomal proteins (12.5%), p10 (3.58%), cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (3.13%) and sensory appendage protein (2.9%). Sequence similarity analysis between bumblebees and other insect species showed that 72 out of 437 (16.5%) bumblebee expressed sequence tags (EST) matched sequences of Apis mellifera, with matches to Drosophila melanogaster (6.6%), Caenorhabditis briggsae (6.2%), Lysiphlebus testaceipes (4.8%), Periplaneta americana (3.7%) and Anopheles gambiae (3.4%) following, suggesting that sequence similarity of bumblebee EST is closest to that of A. mellifera. Functional classification of EST based on Gene Ontology showed that most genes found by sequencing are associated with physiological processes in the bumblebee. The results of sequencing and analysis of our 437 cDNA demonstrated that high‐throughput EST sequencing and data analysis are powerful means for identifying novel genes and for expression profiling. Our bumblebee EST collection could be a useful platform for further studies of gene expression in diapausing bumblebees.     

草莓中黄酮类物质的测定以及与抗氧化活性之间的相互关系

报道草莓中黄酮类物质含量的测定方法,并比较了总抗氧化成分与抗氧化活性(DPPH,FRAP)之间的相互关系.黄酮类物质的水解随着HCl浓度和水解时间的不同发生较大的差异,结果表明,总多酚类物质和总黄酮类物质之间有很高的相关关系,总多酚类物质和总黄酮类物质对DPPH有很高的相关关系,而且总多酚类物质和总黄酮类物质对FRAP的相关关系各为r=0.958, P ＜0.05和r=0.936, P ＜0.05,从结果可以推测:草莓体现出很强的抗氧化活性,这与草莓中的总多酚类物质成分密不可分.     

Evaluating drought effect on MODIS Gross Primary Production (GPP) with an eco-hydrological model in the mountainous forest, East Asia

Surface soil moisture dynamics is a key link between climate fluctuation and vegetation dynamics in space and time. In East Asia, precipitation is concentrated in the short monsoon season, which reduces plants water availability in the dry season. Furthermore, most forests are located in mountainous areas because of high demand for agricultural land, which results in increased lateral water flux and uneven distribution of plant available water. These climatic and topographic features of the forests make them more vulnerable to drought conditions. In this study, the eco‐hydrological model (Regional Hydro‐Ecological Simulation System) is validated with various water and carbon flux measurements in a small catchment in Korea. The model is then extended to the regional scale with fine‐resolution remote sensing data to evaluate the Moderate Resolution Imaging Radiometer (MODIS) leaf area index and gross primary productivity (GPP) products. Long‐term model runs simulated severe drought effect in 2001 well, which is clearly shown in the ring increment data. However, MODIS GPP does not capture this drought effect in 2001, which might be from a simplified treatment of water stress in the MODIS GPP algorithm. This study shows that the MODIS GPP products can potentially overestimate carbon uptake specifically during drought conditions driven by soil water stress.